Dunn used a flick knife and 25cm Bowie knife to threaten the manager and a pharmacist at the Night & Day Pharmacy on King St, telling them the Bowie knife was "for chopping" and the flick knife was "for cutting", police facts tendered to the court said.

Wearing a hooded jumper and a light green balaclava, Dunn allegedly entered the pharmacy just before 5pm and warned the victims, "don't muck around, just open the drug safe and don't press any buttons".

He demanded they put ampoules of morphine and pethidine, six bottles of 100 Rivotril tablets and 10 2.5mm syringes into a backpack, the facts said. Dunn also allegedly stole $2700 in cash.

He allegedly ordered the workers to their knees and attempted to tie their hands behind their backs with masking tape.

When the tape broke, he allegedly ran out of the pharmacy's rear exit.

A witness told police they saw the robber get into a taxi at Westfield Shopping Centre and leave along Cowper St, and turn left into King St.

The taxi driver later told police he had dropped off a man matching the description of Dunn at the corner of Northcliffe Dr and Wilkinson St, Berkeley.

Police searched the area and claim they found a backpack at the back of a block of units in Wilkinson St, with $160 cash, a light green balaclava, a black hooded jacket and a mobile phone inside.

Dunn's name was written on the phone and he lived in the block of flats where the bag was found, police said.

They searched Dunn's unit and allegedly found a 25cm knife in his bedroom, which Dunn told police he had had for years and had never taken outside of the house. Police said they also found about 90 tablets of Rivotil and $205 worth of $5 notes.

Dunn told police he had been at Berkeley Sports Club at the time of the robbery and that his jumper, mobile phone and fishing knife had been stolen while he was fishing earlier that day.

He pleaded not guilty to armed robbery in Wollongong Local Court yesterday, and asked Magistrate Paul Johnson to grant him bail, telling the court, "a serious altercation in jail would probably put me in a wheelchair".

The court heard Dunn had five broken vertebrae and a foot condition that meant he could not walk far.

In refusing bail, Mr Johnson noted Dunn's prior conviction for serious robbery. Dunn is to reappear via audio visual link on June 3.